IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Sandy threatens East Coast, as new study shows increase in big U.S. hurricanes; Koch Bros, Big Oil trying to kill wind industry; Judge rules: no mutants in national forests (for now); Plastic pollution, now in the Arctic; Ozone hole shrinks; PLUS: Time is running out for the Great Barrier Reef - half has been lost in just 30 years ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Why are people allowed to plant crops in wildlife refuges at all? I know farmland isn’t cheap, but it seems like driving tractors and harvesters around might make an area a bit less hospitable to wild animals.

"Plaintiffs allege harms that are currently occurring and will continue throughout 2012," wrote Boasberg, an appointee of President Barack Obama. "Waiting for 2013 is not good enough." He set a hearing for Nov. 5 to determine appropriate relief, but also encouraged both sides to meet to see if they could agree on at least some remedies.

[W]ith Koch Industries and fossil fuel groups mobilizing to defeat the [wind energy production tax] credit, its future after 2012 is uncertain. The American Energy Alliance, which has Koch ties, told Politico Pro this week that it aims to make the credit a toxic issue for House Republicans: “Our goal is to make the PTC so toxic that it makes it impossible for John Boehner to sit at a table with Harry Reid and say, ‘Yeah, I can bend on this one,’” said Benjamin Cole, spokesman for the American Energy Alliance.

“These are companies and industries that clearly feel threatened,” said Ken Goldstein, president of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. “And when companies and industries with resources feel threatened, they air advertisements.”

Confidential memo seen by Guardian calls for climate change sceptics to turn American public against solar and wind power. ... Now a confidential strategy memo seen by the Guardian advises using "subversion" to build a national movement of wind farm protesters.

Nor'easters are powerful storms that come up along the East Coast from the south and then increase in volatility with winds from the northeast. In this case, another storm is expected to move into the Northeast from the Ohio Valley around the same time, adding to the weather mix. Sandy will likely be around for the 21st anniversary of the infamous "Perfect Storm" of Oct. 30, 1991, that killed six fishermen.

On Monday, a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, or PNAS, concluded that large Katrina-sized hurricanes were twice as likely to form off the United States' southeast coast in hotter years than they were in colder years.

The sobering findings highlighted how even the world’s most protected marine areas are under assault from natural forces and causes linked to the human activity that is resulting in climate change.
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Researchers warned that Australian officials will have to step up efforts to curb controllable threats, such as coral-eating starfish, because they are easier to target than intense storms and rising ocean temperatures.

Satellite images appear to confirm the claim by Californian Russ George that the iron has spawned an artificial plankton bloom as large as 10,000 square kilometres. The intention is for the plankton to absorb carbon dioxide and then sink to the ocean bed - a geoengineering technique known as ocean fertilisation that he hopes will net lucrative carbon credits.

"The Arctic Ocean and especially its deep-sea areas have long been considered to be the most remote and secluded regions of our planet. Unfortunately, our results refute this notion at least for our observatory. The quantities observed were higher than those recorded from a deep-sea canyon not far from the industrialised Portuguese capital Lisbon," Melanie Bergmann explains.

Deep-sea cameras deployed to monitor biodiversity on the Arctic seabed have documented a significant rise in the amount of plastic waste and other litter on the remote sea floors of the Far North, according to a new study.

The seasonal ozone hole above the Antarctic was the second smallest in 20 years as warm temperatures slowed depletion of the layer that shields the planet from ultraviolet radiation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The year is 2065. Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s ozone is gone—not just over the poles, but everywhere. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered in the 1980s, is a year-round fixture, with a twin over the North Pole. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., is strong enough to cause sunburn in just five minutes.

It is believed that if the international agreement is adhered to, the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation, with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol".

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

Renewable energy proposal in Michigan would enshrine a '25 by 25' mandate in the state constitution. If voters approve the referendum Nov. 6, Michigan would be the first state to include a renewable energy goal in its constitution.

Solelia's solar charging canopy consists of 1 Kw of photovoltaic panels divided between two parking "spaces", with charging posts for each space. The panels, with the addition of an optional motor, can follow the sun during the day to always be in an optimal angle and produce as much electricity as possible. Solelia says the tilting canopies can produce up to 30% more electricity than conventional fixed solar cells.

One of the world's leading naturalists has accused US politicians of ducking the issue of climate change because of the economic cost of tackling it and warned that it would take a terrible example of extreme weather to wake people up to the dangers of global warming...."Disaster. It's a terrible thing to say, isn't it?"

The hour-long report on the fossil-industry and right-wing climate science denial movement broadcast on PBS Frontline Wednesday night raises a key issue. Did deniers win their fight to stop action on global warming by killing it in Congress and keeping it out of the presidential campaign?

A changing Gulf Stream off the East Coast has destabilized frozen methane deposits trapped under nearly 4,000 square miles of seafloor, scientists reported Wednesday. And since methane is even more potent than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas, the researchers said, any large-scale release could have significant climate impacts.

Human activity is affecting Earth in many ways, but a new study suggests that continued population growth and its impact on climate and ecology could trigger a more profound chain reaction of effects within little more than a decade.

Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.

It's simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. "Hitler is on the march and our survival is at stake" footing. That simply won't be possible unless a critical mass of people are on board. It's not the kind of thing you can sneak in incrementally.

The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be "lost for ever", according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.
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"The door is closing," Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said. "I am very worried - if we don't change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever."

Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, says there's no question that the influence of his group and others like it has been instrumental in the rise of Republican candidates who question or deny climate science. "If you look at where the situation was three years ago and where it is today, there's been a dramatic turnaround. Most of these candidates have figured out that the science has become political," he said.
...Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it."

They don't actually farm on wildlife reserves but they do plant corn for ducks and deer for instance. It provides both excellent cover and the American Indians grew long enough that it's really indigenous food for them ...

In case you haven't been paying attention nearly all field corn in the USA is GMO and Monopolized.... Judge is saying no to that which is a HUGE victory not just the environment but for 'breeders' and seed companies that do it the tried and true old fashioned way

GMO corn isn't about increasing yields/profits and I doubt eating it is dangerous. It's about Monopolizing corn. You monopolize the corn seed supply and hence the entire crop you also control the Ethanol industry, beef, pork, chicken and turkey markets .... That is what GMO is really all about, Monopolization of most of the food supply in one fell whoop. The biggest danger isn't health but the wiping out of many useful strains and varieties of corn, some hundreds of years old or causing a genetic anomaly that wipes out the entire species because it can no longer successfully reproduce itself which is a common effect of inbreeding which GMO corn is inherently

Wind farms are hard on the environment and people. Mountain tops are blasted and filled with concrete. Also hard on birds of prey.So hard that the wind farms have to pay scientists to make up reports for them...Only a small fraction of purported energy is produced for them. So all told..it is a negative. As Matt Taibbi says, Wall Street ends up making money off of Cap N' Trade. Nothing good for the environment. Here is an example of the effect of turbines on people.

A neighbour with whom she and her family had been friends decided to take advantage of the massive public subsidies for ‘renewable’ energy.

He put up a 64ft-high wind turbine which, though on his own land, stood just 300 yards from the Jackson family’s home.

The sleepless nights caused by its humming were only the start of their problems. Far worse was the impact on their health.
Aileen, a diabetic since the age of 19, found her blood glucose levels rocketing – forcing her to take more insulin and causing her to develop a cataract, she says.

Her younger son, Brian, an outgoing, happy, academically enthusiastic young man, suddenly became a depressive, stopped seeing his friends and dropped out of his studies at college.

A turbine beside a house near Hartlepool

Aileen’s husband William, who had always had low blood pressure, now found his blood pressure levels going ‘sky high’ – and has been on medication ever since.
So far so coincidental, you might say. And if you did, you would have the full and enthusiastic support of the wind industry.

A windfarm in my state finally made a settlement with the surrounding home owners.....Mars Hill ME. Of course, they are forbidden to talk about health problems and plumenting real estate values.

Maine has seen an increase of 19% of electricity rates to build transmission lines just for wind farms.

Groups like the Sierra Club have endorsed wind energy. Audobon club. Even though the environment is harmed by wind farms and birds are killed. In a SEC report by First Wind , they acknowledged that they may be sued for installing wind farms in migratory bird paths.

The reason that ME and NY are targeted for wind farms is also found in their SEC report. They do not have to produce energy to make a profit if they have an agreement with a foreign country. Canada borders both state. So the turbine blades are turning or they will be damaged by inactivity...no energy has to be produced. The tax payers and rate payers are paying for it all.The corporations are raking in the money.

"GMO corn isn't about increasing yields/profits and I doubt eating it is dangerous."

I hope you'll take some time to read up more on this subject. Start with the recent rat tumor studies and continue on to the probable permanent genetic effects on consumers. Seriously. It may stop you from ever writing that sentence again.